Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Change Your Life With These Great Cooking Tips:

Home cooking is a talent that many people try to improve. Learning some basic cooking skills is a great way to diversify the meals you can enjoy on a daily basis and help you become more cultured. This article will contain some tips to help improve your abilities as a home cook.

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To enjoy delicious baked potatoes when you walk in the door from work, cook them in your slow cooker all day. Wrap washed and dried potatoes in aluminum foil with salt, pepper, butter, onion or other seasonings and place the wrapped potatoes in the slow cooker on low for six to eight hours. Place a variety of toppings on the table for a make-your-own meal that's ready in no time. A foolproof way to clarify butter. Melt several    sticks of butter over low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. When you see froth on the top, solid particles on the bottom, and a clear yellow liquid in between, remove the pan from the heat. Skim the froth off the top, and strain the clarified liquid into a container, leaving the milk solids behind.


Go easy on the herbs and spices. Do not over-season your foods. Spices and herbs are meant to compliment your food, not overpower it. Try with the least amount, and add more only after you have tasted the effect of a small amount. Too much seasoning can easily be worse than not enough.

Store shelled nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews and others in the freezer. Storing them in the pantry may allow the oils they contain to go rancid, but placing them in the freezer may extend their useful life up to a year. Be sure to carefully label each container to make it easy to find them for recipes.

To check and see if biscuits, cakes, cornbread, muffins and other bread-like foods are finished, insert a wooden toothpick into the center. If there are any crumbs or batter stuck to the wood when you remove it, pop the food back into the oven for a few minutes to allow it to finish.

While it may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, you should actually increase the baking temperature of very small quantities of food. The smaller the dish, the higher the temperature should be. This is also true for the allotted time to bake. Generally, the time needed to fully cook the food is much shorter.

When you are using herbs and spices make sure that you store them correctly to keep the, fresh. Since humidity is a spice's worst enemy, make sure to keep them in air-tight containers. Also, keep them in a dark place, as light can also negatively affect the taste of your spices.



Cooking Methods:

Learn to enjoy Brussels sprouts. Not many people enjoy Brussels sprouts if they are cooked in the traditional manner of boiling them. Sprouts can be delicious if you try different methods of cooking, such as roasting them with carrots and parsnips for a delicious side dish. They are delicious if pan-fried with bacon. These cooking methods give them a nutty flavor. Always choose small Brussels sprouts, as the larger ones tend to be very bitter.

Don't boil your vegetables - steam or stir-fry them! Lengthy cooking processes such as boiling remove many of the important nutrients found in vegetables. To preserve their healthy reputation, choose quick cooking methods such as sautéing or steaming - or better still, enjoy them in their natural, raw state.

When cooking vegetables, cook them as quickly as possible to keep their nutritional value. When you cook veggies slowly, they lose many nutrients. Speed cooking vegetables also retains the best texture and nutrition. Cook your vegetables for the minimum amount of time for better results.

The tips previously stated are important to remember, but make sure you take more steps beyond them. If cooking is a passion, pursue it further. If it isn't a passion and you just want to cook better meals for your family, pursue it more casually and more opportunities will open up.

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